Artificial hair or doll&#39;s hair and method for manufacturing it

ABSTRACT

Improved artificial hair or doll&#39;s hair which consists at least of a synthetic support ( 2 ), characterized in that the artificial hair ( 1 ) contains what is called an aerogel ( 4 ).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns improved artificial hair or doll's hair.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

As is known, artificial hair mainly consists of a synthetic support, preferably in the form of a monofilament, around which a coating may possibly be provided.

With such known artificial hair, the synthetic support or the monofilament is usually made of a polyester, such as for example polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) or of a polyamide or what is called fancy acryl.

A disadvantage of these known synthetic supports is that they are very shiny, as a result of which the artificial hair looks unnatural and feels different from real hair, such that a person wearing a wig made of such known artificial hair often catches the eye.

In order to reduce the sheen of the known synthetic supports, it is known to subject the synthetic supports to an alkali treatment.

Such an alkali treatment results in harmful effects on the surface of the synthetic support, as a result of which it will lose its high luster.

This alkali treatment is disadvantageous, however, in that the synthetic support becomes less soft and moreover becomes relatively liable to wear, as a result of which the life of the artificial hair is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to remedy the above-mentioned and other disadvantages.

To this aim, the present invention concerns an artificial hair which mainly consists of a synthetic support, characterized in that the artificial hair contains what is called an aerogel.

The aerogel is hereby defined as a solid-state material with a very low volume density, the solid-state part of which consists mainly or entirely of silicon oxide and is preferably distributed in the artificial hair in the form of nano particles.

The present invention is advantageous in that the surface of the artificial hair looks like real hair without any alkali treatment being required.

Another advantage is that the artificial hair is relatively wear-resistant and consequently has a relatively long life.

According to a preferred embodiment, the aerogel is distributed in the synthetic support.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

According to another preferred embodiment, the synthetic support is provided with a coating containing aerogel.

The present invention also concerns a method for manufacturing artificial hair or doll's hair, which mainly consists of mixing a base material for the synthetic support with what is called an aerogel; and of extruding the obtained mixture to form the synthetic support.

Finally, the present invention concerns the use of aerogel for manufacturing artificial hair or doll's hair.

In order to better explain the characteristics of the present invention without being limitative in any way, the following preferred embodiment of artificial hair or doll's hair according to the invention, as well as the preferred method for manufacturing it, is given as an example only without being limitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a section of an artificial hair or doll's hair according to the invention;

FIG. 2 represents a section according to line II-II in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 represents an artificial hair 1 or doll's hair according to the invention which at least consists of a synthetic support 2, around which a coating 3 can be either or not provided.

The above-mentioned synthetic support 2 is preferably made of a combination of one or several of the following substances: polyamide, such as for example polyamide 6, polyamide 6.6, polyamide 11, or polyamide 12; fancy acryl; polyacetate (POM); polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDFJ); polyester such as for example polyethylene terephthalate (PETP).

The coating 3 is preferably mainly made on the basis of a polyester, a polyurethane, a vinyl, an acrylate or a silicone.

According to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the synthetic support contains an amount of so-called aerogel 4, which amount is preferably situated between 1 to 5 percent by volume of the synthetic support 2.

An example of an aerogel 4 suitable for use is available on the market under the trade name Nanogel.

As is represented in FIG. 2, the artificial hair 1 or doll's hair in this case has a round cross section, although other shapes are not excluded, of course.

A method for manufacturing an artificial hair 1 or doll's hair as described above mainly consists in mixing a certain amount of a base material, for example granules or granulates of polyester, polyamide or fancy acryl, for the artificial hair 1 or doll's hair with a certain amount of aerogel/Nanogel, after which the obtained mixture is extruded into longitudinal filaments with a desired cross section.

It is clear that, in order to mix the base material with the aerogel/Nanogel 4, aerogel/Nanogel particles are preferably applied in the form of a micro fine powder.

Subsequently, these filaments can either or not be coated on their outer surface by applying the above-mentioned coating 3 in a liquid form on their outer surface.

After the coating, a drying time is preferably applied, which depends on the composition of the coating 3 and of the ambient parameters such as temperature, atmospheric humidity, air circulation and the like.

The coating of the artificial hair or doll's hair can be repeated several times after the drying time, either or not with the same coating 3.

According to a second preferred embodiment, the aerogel/Nanogel 4 is provided in the coating 3.

It should be noted that in both above-described embodiments, one or several additives, such as colorants, diluents or other additives can be added to the synthetic support 2 and/or the coating 3.

Of course, it is also possible to provide an amount of aerogel/Nanogel 4 in the synthetic support 2 as well as in the coating 3.

The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiments and method described above and represented in the accompanying drawings; on the contrary, such an improved artificial hair or doll's hair and a method for manufacturing such artificial hair or doll's hair according to the invention can be made according to many different variants while still remaining within the scope of the invention. 

1. An artificial hair or doll's hair comprising a synthetic support, and an aerogel.
 2. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 1, wherein the aerogel is incorporated in the artificial hair or doll's hair in the form of particles.
 3. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 1, wherein the above mentioned synthetic support contains the aerogel.
 4. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 3, wherein the synthetic support contains 1 to 5 percent by volume of aerogel.
 5. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic support comprises one or several of polyester, polyamide and fancy acryl.
 6. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic support is provided with a coating containing the aerogel.
 7. The artificial hair or doll's hair according to claim 6, wherein the coating comprises a polyurethane, a vinyl, an acrylate or a silicone.
 8. A method for manufacturing an artificial hair or doll's hair which contains at least a synthetic support in the form of a monofilament, comprising the steps: mixing a base material for the synthetic support with an aerogel; and extruding the resulting mixture to form the synthetic support.
 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the aerogel is mixed as a micro fine powder with the base material.
 10. The method according to claims 8, wherein the amount of aerogel in the mixture amounts to 1 to 5 percent by volume.
 11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the base material is a polyester, a polyamide or a fancy acryl.
 12. The use of aerogel for manufacturing artificial hair. 